Shedding skin, red veins, glassy eyes, weight loss

I have two axolotls (leucistic and gold albino, both about a year old) in a 40 gallon breeder with live plants, some fake plants, fake driftwood decoration and sand substrate. I'm using two air filter boxes with filter floss and bio media rocks. I did have charcoal but as I was doing the monthly change this week I decided to just remove it all together. I'm looking in to ordering some Chemi Pure Elite instead. I feed them Canadian night crawlers bought from the bait section at walmart. I chop them in small pieces and feed around every 3rd or 4th day. They seem to be defecating normally.

For about 4 weeks now my leucistic has been deteriorating quickly:
*drastic weight loss
*red veiny skin that has come and gone. But this week is a permanent situation.
*Lethargic; he used to rip the earth worms from my hand with gusto. Now daintily takes them from my fingers.
*Bright red gills at all times as opposed to when he's just being active. This week I've noticed a few filaments missing from the base of one gill.
*glassy film over his eyes. He doesn't seem to register movement by the glass like he used to this week.
*Some days he seems to be shedding his skin. Again, this comes and goes. Currently I can see a few shreds of skin on his back, it falls off when he moves quickly (which is rarely). There are no open sores.

My albino seems healthier in comparison. A few weeks ago I noticed his skin was flaking as well. His skin seems fine now. The only visible change is that he's not quite as active.

I had been doing pretty routine water changes: 20% every week to week and a half. Their temperature hang around 72-74 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm ordering a fan for their tank this week to see if that helps with the temperature.

Water Parameters:

For months their water had a reading similar to the one below:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: around 40ppm, sometimes slightly higher
I was not testing PH

Three days ago I moved the tank from my house to my classroom. I had to take out almost all the water to do so. I replaced the water with de-chlorinated tap water and it started a mini cylce that drove the ammonia up to .25 ppm. It also caused a small brown algae bloom. I've been doing 10% water changes every day and the algae is pretty much gone.

Water parameters today:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite: .25ppm
Nitrate: 20 ppm
PH: 7.2 ppm
PH of the water from the classroom tap: 8.2 ppm

I plan to do today's water change next hour during my break.

Has anyone had anything like this happen to their axolotls before and/or have any sure advice to give? I'll post a picture very soon. I'd like to give him a tea bath for his skin but could not find a full tutorial (there was one but it looks like it was deleted).

Skin issues are very often caused by water quality problems. Your N compounds seem OK, but the temperature is way too high - you need to get it down to 68 or less ASAP. My axie refused to eat for weeks this summer due to the heat, but he's fine now the autumn is here.

If you can check the pH do so, as well as the hardness.

Have you checked for chlorine? Some dechlorinators (and other chemicals) can lose their potency if they get old or oxidised.

You can try a tea bath for irritated skin - see the stickies for instructions.

I've had this problem too, but all my readings were zero. My leucistic was affected, but not my wildtype. Some people have debated that leucistics are less "hardy" and are more sensitive. I don't know if it's the same problems but try and get everything down to the correct water parameters and in the correct temperature range. Tea baths soothe the skin and it seemed to help mine out for a few hours of the day.. It's been two weeks and he completely stopped eating for 1 week and then started to gently take 1 worm a day now he's snapping at 3 a day to get him fat again. I also added a big chunk of ice (3L bottle) to his tank and he always crawled and floated close by and his skin seemed to calm down (even though my tank was already 19 degrees.. So strange).

I also separated him into a smaller tank so he didn't get too stressed out by the other one, I could monitor his food intake and poop and prevent the disease (I thought it was one) spreading to my other axolotl.

Hope all turns out well.

Thanks for the advice! I wish I could do the ice water bottle thing, but since they're classroom pets, I wouldn't be able to have access to a freezer (I'd have to bring them from home) and I wouldn't be able to do anything on the weekend.

I'm ordering a fan this week and will be removing the glass lid. Hopefully that takes the temp down.

The dechlorinator is a brand new bottle and I go through them so quickly with my two other tanks. It is a stress coat type with aloe, would that make a difference?

I've searched for a tea bath tutorial and couldn't find it stickied anywhere (just the salt bath). I have a mini fridge at work, it's very small so it would probably only fit one lotl and the fresh water for changes. I'd rather tea bath the whole tank so they can both get the benefits.

What kind of tea do you use? Do I steep it in hot water, let it cool and pour it in? Or could I use the cold-brew Lipton bags? I saw a formula for how many bags per liters, but it never said how long to let it steep or when to change.

These pictures were taken this Friday. His veins look more red in person.

Tea bath:
Put a tea bag in a mug or small jug, and add boiling water. Leave it to go cold. Remove the tea bag and add the cold tea to the tank or tub. No measuring or timing needed.
Make sure you use regular black tea, not herbal, fruit, green or any other 'fancy' teas. For the record Lipton is a rubbish tea - believe me I'm a British tea drinker! And don't be tempted to use the instant stuff either.

You can leave your axies in the tea as long as needed, if you put the tea in the tank it will dilute with water changes, if you put your axie in a tub you can leave him there all day. If you can't see your axie because the water is oo dark it's too strong.... but you'd have to make a whole bucket of tea with 50 tea bags for that to happen :lol:

But you could be onto something with the dechlorinator change - it could be a reaction to a different chemical.

You shouldn't need to fridge your axie unless he is very sick - fridging is stressful on it's own, and is really a last resort for fungus, impaction, lost limb etc.

Thanks for the great tips! I'll get to work on that straight away on Monday morning! I agree with your Lipton comment!